Although a great family movie, the Big Miracle misses the big picture.

Although for some it is very old news, I saw the film “Big Miracle”, based on a true life story about three endangered Pacific Grey Whales trapped in Alaska and the rescue efforts to save them. The unfortunate thing is that the real message was watered down and overlooked!

As is usual with scriptwriters, the story was “much to do with Hollywood” and altered from the real story. The movie, although moving and portraying the mindsets of the people and cultures affected by the “whales plight”, did touch but touch upon the realities of current Inupiat life and the lust for power by oil barons.

The only ones not really represented or understood were the ones the story was really all about – whales! Read the rest of this entry »

Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited SeaWorld following the death of a killer whale trainer. If a Florida court rules in favor of OSHA, employees of SeaWorld and other parks like it will no longer be able to come into direct contact with whales unless there is a barrier between them.

Although I usually write about the less aggressive whales, I by no means wish to forget Killer Whales and the ongoing saga with Sea World.

You see, Killer Whales are big business. People are drawn to intrigue and horror stories. And “Killer Whales” always draw a crowd, especially when “killers” can be shown to be playful, docile and controlled.

At least that is what you are led to believe.

But to understand it a bit more clearly, you need to separate out a couple of ideas. Ideas that confuse the issue, simply because words can border on sensational, and thus draw crowds. Crowds that pay money to see “killers”.

Killer whale jumping out of the blue water (Orcinus orca)

You see, the word “killer” usually brings into one’s mind a sinister thing, an evil thing. And from years ago, “killer” whales, were actually just that – whales that eat other whales. Recent events now show that these whales even eat sting rays and great white sharks.

The truth is, these whales are at the top of their food chain, just like we are. They eat other animals.

However, when any animal, including man, is caged and corralled, behaviors change. Men become violent. Well, so do whales, especially whales that are predators. Just like men, given the chance, they will turn against their keepers.

Tilikum is one such “killer” whale.

How would you express your rage at captivity, left to be in a room the size of a living room for the rest of your natural life?

As it turns out, Tilikum has killed two other people. But remember one thing – there are no records of wild orcas hunting and killing man in open waters. The behavior changed when forced these mammals were forced into a small enclosure.

Sea World has 25 of the 42 whales that exist in large-scale aquariums. And right now there is a move to remove trainers from being in the water with any orca. The interesting thing is that Sea World is attempting to stop this lawsuit by OSHA.

They are trying to prove that these animals can be “controlled” when the point is that having human trainers riding them are what visitors come to see every year, paying millions of dollars in entry fees and paraphernalia.

Does Sea World really care about the safety of their trainers…really?

The spark of sanity that may occur is that OSHA could win this case, denying trainers to be in the water with orcas.

People will no longer be drawn to the shows where trainers are thrown into the air, hug and ride whales.

The excitement will go.

And so will visitor attendance.

If OSHA wins their case, it means one step closer to freedom for these magnificent beings.

This is the listening device built by Stanford University, based on orca ears. CREDIT: Onur Kilic

It’s an amazing new discovery – and invention – that has been achieved thanks to whales.

In a story I found in TechNews Daily, a team of scientists have developed an underwater listening device basic on the ears of killer whales.

“The decibel range of the sensor ranges from 20 decibels to 180 decibels in water — this is equivalent to a microphone that can record a whisper in a quiet library and the sound from 1 ton of TNT exploding 60 feet away,” researcher Onur Kilic, an applied physicist at Stanford University, told TechNewsDaily.

“At the same time, this new hydrophone can work at virtually any depth, no matter how crushing the pressure. It also can hear sound frequencies from 1 hertz to 100 kilohertz, spanning pitches far higher than the whine of a mosquito and far lower than a foghorn.”

The benefit of this invention will allow scientists to track whales underwater and the equipment will be able to track and hear other sounds in the water, such a leaking oil from an underwater pipeline.

The device has the capability of also filtering out other sounds. Killer Whales do this naturally, when they are hunting other sea creatures, including whales. And so the same theory applies.

Since whales live in the water, their ears – and ear drums use water fluids.

“The only way to make a sensor that can detect very small fluctuations in pressure against such immense range in background pressure is to fill the sensor with water,” Kilic said. Doing so keeps the water pressure on each side of the membrane equal, no matter how deep.

“Kilic and his colleagues fabricated a microchip with a silicon membrane about 500 nanometers thick, or about 25 times thinner than common plastic wrap. They next drilled a grid of tiny holes in the membrane to allow water to pass in and out.

“To detect the wobbles of such a membrane in response to sound, the researchers shine a laser on this reflective sheet with a fiber-optic cable. Since the diameter of the holes in the membrane are close to the wavelength of light from the laser, the holes interfere with the light trying to pass through the membrane, reflecting it toward a detector. When the membrane gets deformed by sound waves, the intensity of the light alters, which the detector can pick up.

“The kind of displacements you get off the diaphragm for the quietest sounds in the ocean is on the order of a hundred-thousandth of a nanometer,” Kilic said. “That is 10,000 times smaller than the diameter of an atom.”

The point is, scientists are using something whales have developed over millions of years. Our in depth studies of them have only actually begun in earnest the last fifty years or less. Yet here is a breakthrough that has a definite value to man, yet we still allow whales to be hunted and killed.

Does that make sense?

Although man has his own set of ears, is he really listening?

I just read an article that promotes and uses marine animals for military purposes.

Marine animals are being used to protect our shores by the U.S. Military. Why aren't we protecting them? (Photo courtesy ABC NEWS)

One person argued that this is the height of nature and science and a proper use of both for man’s benefit.

Another said that these creatures are taken care of, while being employed for  military operations carried out by the United States.

It seems to me, that both these comments are self-serving to the U.S. Government PR machine.

Why would I say that?

Read the rest of this entry »